Blackberry-Rose Mead - Racking Off The Fruit

Today we decided to check on the 2 gallon batch of blackberry-rose mead that The Forge is brewing to get a specific gravity reading and to get the mead "off the fruit," which simply means to remove the fruit being used to ferment and flavor the must. After sanitizing all of our equipment, which consisted of a turkey baster, graduated cylinder, hydrometer, rubber spatula, and a sifter (used for dusting pastry with confectioner's sugar), we opened the 2.5 gallon bucket serving as our primary fermentation vessel and used the sifter to gently remove all of the blackberries floating on top. After the removal of the blackberries we used the spatula to stir and agitate the must allowing it to degas all of the CO2 and other gasses that have been accumulating in the liquid over the course of the fermentation. All that was left was to remove some of the liquid and take a specific gravity reading with the hydrometer.

Looking back on our first post we can see that the original gravity of this must was approximately 1.130. Our specific gravity reading for today was showing 1.015. That gives us roughly a 15.09% ABV which exceeds the alcohol tolerance of the Lalvin 71B yeast we used in primary. This means the mead has probably completed the fermentation cycle, but it may pick back up again once the half-gallon of rose tea is added which will dilute the ABV. We will be taking another specific gravity reading in one week, and if it has not changed another reading three days later. Assuming they are all the same we can assume the fermentation has completed and will proceed from there determining if any alterations need to be done to complete the flavor profile of the mead.

Also as a part of the reading today we did a tasting of the current must to make sure everything was moving ahead as predicted. The reading for ABV shows that the alcohol content was a bit higher than predicted, but in line with calculation margins of error; that being said the aroma currently doesn't have much of an alcohol scent which was mostly honey and berry. Given time and ageing the aroma should definitely mellow out and become more complex. The color and clarity of the mead was as cloudy as expected since it hasn't had any time to sit and clear naturally, and the color was a purple burgundy, kind of a like a purple-red blackberry color. The taste had a strong but not overwhelming or sickly sweet honey flavor with an almost as strong blackberry flavor. I think with time and the addition of the rose tea and a little bit more honey we will see a more complex and balanced flavor profile.

We will have an update posted after our readings next week for the Blackberry-Rose mead, but an update for the Peach-Strawberry mead should be available within the next few days so look for that.

Stay safe and remember to love one another!

~The Forge Meadery